The first phase of the JAL project from 1993 to 2005 was carried out using an automated flask sampling system to obtain a long-term record of CO2 and other trace gases in upper troposphere. The CO2 record over the western Pacific has provided valuable information on the latitudinal distribution of the atmospheric CO2 seasonal cycle and on the inter-annual variation of long-term increasing trends in the upper troposphere of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (Matsueda et al., 2002).

For the second phase of the JAL project (Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiner: CONTRAIL), an improved Automatic air Sampling Equipment (ASE) for flask sampling and a new Continuous CO2 Measuring Equipment (CME) for in-situ CO2 measurements were installed on Boeing 747-400 (retired), Boeing 777-200ER and Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. In all, one or both of these instruments have been installed on several Boeing aircraft operated by JAL with regular flights from Japan to Australia, Europe, East, South and Southeast Asia, Hawaii, and North America, providing significant spatial coverage, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere (Machida et al., 2008; Sawa et al., 2012; Matsueda et al., 2015).

The CONTRAIL project is being jointly conducted by NIES, the MRI, JAL, JAMCO and JAL Foundation. The CONTRAIL Database contains all the CO2 data measured by CME, as well as the information from the aircraft data system (aircraft position, temperature, wind direction and wind speed).

The data was processed and checked by the following Principal Investigators (PIs), before being submitted to the Database.

Toshinobu Machida (NIES) & < tmachida(at)nies.go.jp >

Hidekazu Matsueda (MRI) & < hmatsued(at)mri-jma.go.jp >

Yousuke Sawa (MRI) & < ysawa(at)mri-jma.go.jp >

Yosuke Niwa (NIES) & < niwa.yosuke(at)nies.go.jp >

If you want to use CONTRAIL datasets in your research, please contact Toshinobu Machida by e-mail with your name, affiliation, institute, mail address, and a brief description of your research project as well as the data you are requesting (period, area, vertical or horizontal, etc.). Once your request is accepted by the PIs, they will provide you with the available datasets for your research.

Before using CONTRAIL data in a presentation or publication, please contact the PIs to discuss the results as well as co-authorship and collaboration. In any case of presentation and publication, the data source from the CONRAIL project and our publication should be cited. Distribution of the CONTRAIL data to a third person is prohibited.